History of Fletcher Maynard Academy

FMA was originally two separate K-8 schools, the Fletcher School and the Maynard School. The Fletcher was named after Ruel Hasseltine Fletcher who served as the school’s principal for almost 50 years. The Maynard was named in honor of Joseph Maynard, a longtime member of the Cambridge School Committee.

In 1999, a Steering Committee comprised of parents, teachers, community members, and Cambridge Public Schools central office staff was elected to discuss the merging of the Fletcher and Maynard Schools. Working together, they developed a turnaround plan for these low-performing schools, which centered on establishing one new school focused on educational excellence and smaller class sizes. FMA opened its doors in September 2000.

In 2003, Cambridge Public Schools implemented a new consolidation and improvement plan that restructured its 15 existing elementary schools from the K-8 model to K-5 Elementary Schools and 6-8 Middle Schools. As a result, FMA retained its name but became a K-5 school and students who graduated moved to the Cambridge Street Upper School.

Fun fact: The Maynard School’s Spanish immersion program began in 1986. In 2001, this program became an autonomous bilingual (dual-language) school known as the Amigos School.